Tuesday, October 25, 2011

So here we are again. The word and name, 'Brackenwood' is not a new one to The Daily Crumb. No sirry. We've been huge fans since the early days of the online animated series, Brackenwood.You may be familiar with films such as 'Waterlollies', 'Prowlies at the River' and 'Bitey of Brackenwood'.

The mysterious and speedy character, Bitey has not appeared since the latest released short, 'The Last of the Dashkin' which began to explore Bitey's life and history. Taking a dip further into his growing up on the forest planet.Go and watch it, although it is the latest in a few short animated films it is a very nice introduction to the world with some beautiful music.

Attempt 1 (Kinda Eggtopic):Brackensack.Brackensack was Adam Phillips (Creator of Brackenwood)'s first attempt at a Bracky based flash game.I rather enjoyed it.You can still go and check it out hereIt has very simple controls, you use the mouse and space bar to effectively keep the 'fatsack' character airborn whilst head butting it.

But now! Look what we have! .. almost.All of you brilliant people pledged as much as you could for a brilliant game. Your money well.. spent, given.. donated... whatever.

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REVIEW STARTS NOW:

So myself and some other peeps have played the BETA of Dashkin, the yet to be released Brackenwood masterpiece.It is, well it is a game, first off. It is always nice to mention things like that, this is a game. A game designed by Adam Phillips and presumably coded by Sean McGee. Like 'Last of the..' I believe Lee Miller has been brought back as epic musician. Nice to see he has brought his own chair into the Bracky office and is comfortably ready for the continued journey.

The Dashkin BETA is a basic playthrough of the gameplay. It gave examples of four levels to play on, all quite different from eachother. (Phwoar)

My question is, what are you expecting from the gameplay? I can tell you this, it is half, 'YuYu the Flash Game' and half 'An even closer look into Bitey's daily life'. You are Bitey, i suppose you can't get any closer into his life, unless you become his siamese twin?When you were a child/ If you are a child, did/do you ever stare out the car window as the vehicle is zooming down the road and imagine characters running alongside the car? Soaring at high speeds, jumping over things and occasionally running straight into a pole?

This is Dashkin, Bitey is constantly jumping, you've got him in a rush, you need to make sure that he does not injure himself. (With the amount of injuries he can get and at that impact I'm surprised he does not die!! But no one would want that.)If you hit a boulder at high speed you are going to feel it. My little brother even covers his eyes in shock)

There are 3 obstacles so far revealed to us. I'm not sure how much i can mention but all I'll say is you can go SPLAT, SPLASH AND... SCRATCH. Adam West will love this game. Screenshots reveal all! And be assured, with these amazing confrontations comes some fantastic animation. The animation of Bitey merges together from jumping to swimming to super speeed running. It's beautiful.

Luckily I was given a 'Training Level'. I was very happy about that and did terribly the first few rounds. But if you read carefully the controls are actually very simple.

You may have come across games similar to this, 'avoid things' games. But this game is very different. You actually have a lot more control over the main character than may appear so. Whilst he does his constant jumping, you are able to 'skid' (slows you right down) and of course the SUPER SPEEED RUN. (Not official name)You create your own time really.But thats not all that makes it different, durrh, you think i would stop there? This game has the most amazing atmosphere I've seen on a flash game. (Or movie)The reason the previous films did so well was because Adam can bring you into this beautiful natural world of sounds and colours.Well now it is a game you are actually involved and it feels good. Throw away your 3D glasses, just hire Adam Phillips to make a flash game and you'll be sorted.We were given examples of a nice clear day, a miserable, rainy, windy day and a nighttime level

The rainy one was my favorite. With the falling rain and perfect foggy colours that drifted in the background art it make me feel cold, like i needed to HURRY and get back to a good hot chocolate. Those in the UK will know the feeling when playing this level.The levels started off quite simple but quickly got filled with the things I had to avoid, which of course added a lot more fun to it.For a BETA this game had the perfect level of difficulty (all together). Do not make it harder (apart from later levels of course)This can be enjoyed by all ages hopefully, you know, apart from babies and old people who can't see it anyway. And they will not appreciate Lee Miller either, so keep it away from them.

Whether you want to get the fastest speed, collect the most egg thingies or just be an emo and bash your head a few times this is the perfect game for you. I look forward to the full release when the 'STORY' will be revealed!We'll want to play through to discover more storyline in the game. Wow! This things big.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Lady Gasoline is the second album from Irish singer/songwriter, Chris Singleton. After overcoming from Hyperacusis (A hearing condition where all sounds are perceived as painfully loud ) he wanted to make something loud... interesting. This something was Lady Gasoline! A 2010 poprock album with more instruments, more bounding flavour to get you dancing on top of an old wooden chair.

Chris' first album (Released FREE online) was Twisted City. This album was/is fantastic. I found after downloading all of the tracks I gave it a few listens, enjoyed the tracks and then left it alone. Later on I realised, whilst my playlist was on random that, the Twisted City tracks were the only songs i would not skip.If you can, go and check out this FREE album herehttp://www.singletonmusic.com/freealbum/register.htm?websiteFrom this album, half worried about the fact he was not earning any money from a free album and half because I loved his tunes, i bought his second album, Lady Gasoline.

"Mummy look! Rocks back!"She didnt care.

But I did.

On Lady Gasoline, Chris collaborated with the musicians of 'The Distractions'.So that was a bit of information on the man himself and whats 'up' with this album.Now heres the review.

Due to the magic of the internet I can include a few of the tracks from the album on this very blog post. NO WAY?

There are twelve tracks on Lady Gasoline. Straight away you are thrown into the running sound of 'Let me Out'. Literally, you could jog to it and lose a few calories.Something noticably different about Lady Gasoline (Other than the epic full band sound) is the appearance of a 'Lady'. A few of the tracks have backing vocals from vocalist, Jane Fraser. She appears on my favourite track, 'Sold the World'. It has a smooth other worldly sound. A wahwahy tune and acoustic guitar, that is heaven to the ears. Then introducing Chris' fantastic vocals and lyrics.

Chris Singleton has a knack for making catchy, enjoyable chorus'. 'Caught in the Sun...'. Every track has a unique lyrical tune.

This album also includes a bit of a big bang feel, something very lively. As mentioned in the booklet, 'Peter Rolinson trumpeted on 'Bad Ambitions' and 'You came with a Bang'. Both excellent, powerful tracks. I've used Bad Ambitions on my showreel, it, like many of the other tracks have become instant classics to me and my fellow listeners.

Lady Gasoline is a perfect title song and instantly loved by every listener. It has a really nice overall sound, not sure what the instrument is in the chorus, organ/synthy thing. But i love it. A very well written song with a great chorus and a bit of female backing vocals. If this one does not get you dancing I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL. And you should see a Doctor.But in the end I do believe 'Bad Ambitions' was the one that made me buy the album, at the time I was looking for that lively trumpet sound and with Chris' memorable tunes there was nothing to lose.

So those songs mentioned were the ones that jumped out at me, but the album is still jam packed with excellent sounds. 'Valium' getting stuck in my head for a few days, 'Blood' a cool, memorable and kind of creepy track.There are some songs that do not personally jump out at me (Momma Miss America, Lou Reed) when others do, but that is just me. Depends on what you are looking for in a sound.I've bought and listened to a lot of albums in the last two years. And 'star' wise this album is better than alot of the 'big guys', you know, the ones that have a worldly fan base and such. But this album is better than them, it throws you straight into an epic pop rock party and you'll listen to these songs forever.